“‪@petegallego Cash and I thank you for your quick response! It was so scary to see my son unable to breath! Sorry for the mess! Thank you!!!!”

Twitter feeds also showed interest from NBC News, which wouldn’t be such a bad thing for a first-term Democrat embroiled in a potentially competitive challenge from GOP candidate Will Hurd.

In an interview Monday with the Houston Chronicle, Gallego said he had been in the aisle seat, with the 3-year-old seated between him and his mother, who was in the window seat tending to an infant in her lap. “She had a lot going on,” Gallego said.

Gallego said he had his headphones on, getting caught up on the news, when suddenly the mom, who had been feeding the child, began to scream, “My God, my baby’s choking!”

Gallego said he put one hand on the kid’s back, and the other on his sternum. “I knew what was going to happen, so I aimed him forward,” he said. But at the critical moment, the kid turned to look at the congressman. “I ended up with chicken nuggets on my chest.”

Also on his suit and tie. But other passengers helped clean up, and in the ensuring conversation Gallego discovered that he was an old acquaintance of the woman’s husband, who wasn’t on the flight.

“It was one of those small world stories,” Gallego said.

All’s well that ends well, though, Gallego recounted, “I didn’t smell very good when I got off the plane.”